If you don’t already know, I am homeschooling Ayden. I intend to homeschool him throughout his preschool years. I did the same for big brother Ethan but I may send Ayden to a year of preschool for socialising before going to Primary One. I don’t know, let’s see how it goes.  Ayden learns a lot at home. We do many things together from art to Math, to reading and skill learning such as cooking and […]

It is the two weeks school holidays at the moment but we are not going anywhere just yet as big brother Ethan will be sitting for his piano exam tomorrow. Homeschooling activity carries on as usual for Ayden. Our focus this week is in the kitchen as I spend most of my time in here cooking both lunch and dinner during the holidays. Yeah, enough of outside food for a while. Let them have some […]

Today’s activity is more suitable for younger children than toddlers. We are going to learn about static electricity and how it can make a paper snake jump! First, we’ll need to draw a snake on a piece of paper. Next, cut the snake out. Before you know it, it will jump and bite you!  Watch this video to see how it actually happens: Check out also our other Science experiment:

Just like big brother Ethan during his preschool years, I am homeschooling Ayden too. Besides doing art & craft and learning music, Ayden loves Science. Today’s activity is discovering if certain objects FLOAT or SINK. I get Ayden to pick stuffs around the house and placed it in a container for the experiment. Not known to him, I added one extra stuff in there for the surprise element later. We talked about each items and […]

Today’s craft is inspired by the colourful rocks found in big brother Ethan’s school. Ayden follows Ethan on Saturdays for big brother’s Taekwondo class. He loves the colorful rocks in the school compound. That prompted me to let him paint his own rock. Materials needed are acrylic paints, paint brush, an empty egg carton for the paints and an empty Vitagen bottle to wash the paint brush. You can always use a paint palette but I […]

I remember Ethan coming home from school asking us money for a computer exam fee last year. I don’t remember if he did it in Primary One. I don’t keep track on all these. He explained that not all students are selected to sit for this exam. I remember just giving him the money. Early this year in March, Ethan told me there will be a Grade Exam Certificate Presentation at SJK C Yuk Chai and seek our […]

It is craft time again. I love crafting using natural materials. Today, the boys did sand art.  Kids need to explore to learn. They need to FEEL how grainy the sand is and by feeling is not buying them the ‘TOUCH and FEEL book’ but letting them PLAY real sand.  After they are done playing, it’s craft time. I got them to collect the sand in the big bottle for our craft activity.  Using glue, I […]

Ayden enjoyed doing the Torn Paper Apple Art we did several days ago and kept requesting for more arts and crafts activities. I happily obliged. This time I brought them outdoor. The weather is always beautiful in the evenings and it will be such a waste not to enjoy it. I made a video of Ayden painting and stamping independently. The elder brother Ethan disappeared soon after collecting leaves to join his friends for a game […]

The weather is horrible these days. It is scorching hot in the mornings and early evenings and then it rains in the evenings causing the boys to be trapped at home. No fret though as that only means more time for art and craft! Today the boys had fun making torn paper art. The materials needed are: 1 piece red construction paper 1 piece white paper A pair of scissors A marker pen Glue *Edible […]

Big brother Ethan came home with his art homework last week. His task for that week was stamping using okra and leaves. Of course little brother Ayden won’t let the big brother work on his homework in peace unless he is given the opportunity to do the same too. So I got an extra okra for Ayden to have fun together with Ethan. I wrapped the okra with tissue as their hand gets itchy holding […]

Can you believe it that we will be welcoming the Fire Monkey in just a few more days? Still it is not too late to make some DIY CNY decor using past year’s ang pow packets.  This is the first time I am making a basket using red packets.  Chinese New Year Ang Pow Basket  I used 6 red packets for the basket + 12 red packets for the decor + 6 gold packets for […]

Today’s Chinese New Year Angpow decor is a remake of the classic Red Packet Fish Ornament but we added additional tail to it, making it more beautiful :) Chinese New Year Red Packet Fish Ornament We’ll need an angpow with beautiful prints on it.  Cut it into a square. Turn it over and draw lines as shown above.  Cut along the lines.  We’ll need another angpow with different print or color for the tail.  Attach […]

There was one morning when Ayden woke me up before 5am! Don’t know why, he refused to go back to bed. I left him there with the Daddy while I went down to prepare Ethan’s snack box. I went back into the room 20 minutes later to see him wide awake so I thought why not bring him along to send the kor-kor to school.  Ayden got so excited when we told him that he’ll be […]

It is the third week of school. I still havent been able to establish a routine of waking up early in the morning to prepare food for Ethan. The reason being I usually stay up till 2am for work and if I wake up at 5am, I’ll remain awake the entire day to care for the two boys. On days that I really can’t get my eyes to open, Ethan will purchase food from the canteen […]

A neighbour was googling for info on online registration for Standard One for 2017 and 2018 intake for schools in Selangor and landed in my page as I’ve blogged about the step-by-step on registering Ethan for Primary One back in 2012. She told me this evening that Sistem Pengurusan Murid Tahun 1 Online negeri Selangor (esppsel) is now closed and we are no longer able to register there.  The new site that will be of use is https://public.moe.gov.my/ […]

Most children are fascinated by animals and often have an animal that is a particular favorite of theirs. Animals are used widely in our daily education especially for younger children. A better way to introduce and educate animals to them is to let them see and experience these animals upclose which we did last month at Bukit Gambang Safari Park. The entire trip is all about animals, animals and more animals. One activity that the boys love besides riding […]

Chinese New Year is just a month away. We will be welcoming the Year of the Monkey. As usual, it is time to take out the Angpow wrappers and make decors with them. I did an origami monkey with my gold wrappers. Chinese New Year Angpow Origami Monkey It is best to use gold wrappers to make this monkey. I tried with pink wrappers and my friends do not seem to fancy it. They said pink […]

We have not been doing art or craft for a very long time now haven’t we? I finally took out the tempera paste today and get the boys to do a handprint Christmas tree. Ayden is much better in painting now. He can paint his own palm and stamp accordingly.  I’ve forgotten how fun it is to spend time doing artwork with the kids. Let me think of more artwork to make with the boys […]

It is prize giving day today in Ethan’s school. He woke up really early to be there and will have to stay back for his afternoon class as usual. We were worried that he’ll be hungry or tired but thankfully the teacher informed us that parents are allowed to attend so the Daddy can bring Ethan out for lunch after he received his prize.  Darling decided to attend without Ayden and I as it was […]

Late last year we got ourselves a new HP Deskjet 4515 e-All-In-One printer that is able to print content from the Web without the need to connect to the computer. We had so much fun during the year end school holidays making lots and lots of origami printed from HP Printables.  Ethan had the time of his life as it is extremely easy and convenient to print origami templates from HP Printables using our HP […]

Halloween is just a couple of days away. Though Ayden is still clueless about what Halloween is all about, it doesn’t stop us from making a simple ghost artwork for fun.  I guided him to trace the outline of his foot on a piece of white paper.  Happy ghosts come in twos. He said they are very cute.  I cut the ghosts out for him to be used as bookmarks but he rather play with […]

It’s 2am and I can’t sleep. I watched something awful on Youtube and it is haunting me still. It’s a cctv recording of a father and his teenage son arguing. The father took out his gun, placed it in front of his son, dared him to shoot the dad but the son shot himself instead. Without even hesitating, the son took the gun and pulled the trigger. In just a fraction of a second the […]

I’ve been a bad mother. When Ayden was born, I made sure to put him in his car seat whenever we are travelling in the car. We used big bro Ethan’s car seat as it was still in good condition then. After some time (several months), the car seat cover (the sponge) started to tear off. We couldn’t find a replacement for the cover and thought of getting a new seat but Ayden started to […]

During the long school holidays late last year, I held a craft lesson for some of Ethan’s classmates at one of his classmate’s parent’s tuition centre. The kids made Minion pencil holder.  Minion Pencil Holder using toilet paper roll and colored paper.  Recently, I have some extra time so I decided to make one again. This time I used colored felt for a better finish.  I get Ayden to help me glue the toilet paper […]

It took the kids quite some time to collect this much coins: But it took us longer to find a coin-counting machine that works. We went to many banks, searching high and low only to be told that their coin-counting machines are out of order OR their cut out time is 11am. Who on Earth goes out to deposit coins so early? Okay maybe it is only ME who does not leave the house before […]

Both the boys have too many toy cars scattering on the floor. I decided to help them build a multi-storey garage last weekend. We used the larger toilet paper rolls for this project. We used 15 rolls for this multi-storey garage. Maybe we can build a bigger one next. Stick double sided tape on the TP Rolls. Stick them together as you wish. We made three levels with 5 garages on each level. Ayden seemed […]

Ayden is turning two next month. That means he is ready for art and craft activities with me. Today, we made an apple tree using toilet paper roll and coloured crepe paper.  First, I get Ayden to paint the toilet paper roll with brown tempera paste.  He only needs to paint half of the toilet paper roll as we’ll be using only half. I did not cut it first because it is easier for him […]

This is Part 2 to Ethan’s School Holiday Programme at The School, Jaya One. You can read about School Holiday Programme Part 1 where he participated in activities from Fantasia Music, Craft Space, The children’s house, Cross Muay Thai, The Academy of Rock, Science Bridge Academy and Dialogue in The Dark. The activities in Part 1 were for Day 1 and 2. Today, I shall continue with Ethan’s Day 3 and 4. Ethan missed the […]

My readers have been asking me how come I don’t write much about Ethan anymore. The truth is he is always at school while I am always at home with Ayden so obviously I have more to write about Ayden than Ethan right? Anyway, it is the school holidays now and we gave Ethan all the love and attention possible. So this post is all about him today :P Ethan actually has a hectic school […]

With a blink of an eye we are already half way through the two weeks of the school holidays. Our holidays started great with the 4D/3N trip up to Genting but immediately after we got home it was busy, busy and busy for Ethan as he has his Grade 2 Trinity Piano exam on the 4th and Grade 4 Trinity Drum exam on the 10th June! So while other children are playing and enjoying their […]

Last week Ethan came home with a simple instruction – to select a fruit to bring to school for a project in Pendidikan Moral this week. We told him to bring apples as we always have apples at home. I’m referring to the edible ones this time :P He informed his teacher he will be bringing apples and the teacher gave him another set of instructions – to peel and cut it into cubes and […]

Ethan will be celebrating Teacher’s Day in school today. He had no time to get gifts for his teachers so I helped him buy but I forgotten to get wrapping papers. I only realized we are out of wrapping paper after dinner and it is already too late to go out already. How? We made our own wrapping paper. First, I cut a heart shape from a piece of paper.  Then I placed another piece […]

I was spending time drawing and colouring with Ayden. As usual, I’ll help him trace his hands and feet and draw faces out of them. We have been doing this since he was a baby and he loves it. Today, I am going to be very generous and share with you how to draw a human face out of your foot print. It is such an intricate art so you should pay close attention to […]

With a blink of an eye, the long weekend is over. Can’t believe how tiring it is to spend time with two active boys these days. It is either age is catching up with me or the boys are getting tougher. Out of the four off days, we get to spend one day at home peacefully with no agenda planned as the daddy needed to attend to some matters with our new tenant. As I […]

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Even the longest and most difficult ventures have a starting point. I home-schooled Ethan when he was younger. I don’t believe in sending him to preschool but as he grows up, I know I will have to eventually expose him to the real world to learn not only on academics but survival skills as well. We decided to enrol him into a public school. […]

If your kids are studying in government school, it is that time to log into http://sapsnkra.moe.gov.my/ibubapa2/index.php to check your kids’ exam result and even position in class.  You’ll be directed to this page: 1) Key in their IC Number 2) Tick the relevant school (Sekolah Rendah for Primary and Sekolah Menengah for Secondary) 3) Select Year at TAHUN 4) Click ‘Semak Laporan’ Once you are in there, click on the relevant exam term that you want to […]

It’s 1st of April 2015. Things will never be the same again after today with the implementation of GST but I’m not going to talk about that as I am no expert in this issue. I shall wait and see how this will affect my family’s expenditure. In preparation for GST, I resumed teaching. I am now giving private tuition again at night in my house. I’m so thankful I still have students eventhough I’ve […]

Every where Ethan goes, people will be asking him, “Ethan, have you eaten?”. One fine day, Ethan told his Dad that when he was younger, he did not understand what that means. He thought people were always asking, “Ethan, have you Ethan?” and to him, that made no sense. Only recently did he finally get what people meant when they asked him, “Ethan, have you eaten?” His conversation with his Dad prompted him to start […]

OK here’s the deal. Ethan came home from school today telling me his English teacher taught him a new word. I said, “Great! Tell me what word is that?” He said, “Siu-wing”. Me: Suing? Ethan: No, ‘siu-wing’. Me: What’s ‘siu-wing’? Ethan: You know, thread and needles… sewing? Me: Ah! Soh-ing! Ethan: Yes. Soh-wing! Me: No… Soh-ing! Ethan: Yes. Soh-Wing! Ok ok. I don’t mind him pronouncing it as ‘soh-wing’ though the ‘w’ is supposed to […]

Big brother Ethan is still feverish hence he skipped school again today. In the evening, the weather was very beautiful; sunny and windy so I brought them to the playground for some fresh air and sunshine.  After spending about half an hour playing on the playground equipments, I introduced a simple color learning activity for Ayden. It is always fun to learn outdoors as the resources are endless. For today’s activity, I suggested for the […]

Art subject can be fun and interesting but more often than not, parents and students don’t see it that way. For example Ethan brought home his latest art project last week. It is a texture and color art work. His teacher gave him a piece of paper with a printing of a robot on it. He is required to find surfaces with textures, place the paper on it and color; making prints on the robot along the […]

Ethan had been unwell since Monday evening but on Tuesday insisted to go to school as his fever subsided. We allowed him because there was no point arguing with him as he was very determined and looked okay then. But he came home on Tuesday with high fever and feeling nauseous. I did not allow him to go to school on Wednesday and made him rest at home instead. He kept himself busy doing his homework when […]

The reason I prefer to homeschool Ayden than to send to playschool is because I can guide him as and when he is most comfortable and feels like it. This is especially important during reading session as it will be almost impossible to teach a toddler when he is sleepy and cranky. At 16 months old, reading is not limited to word cards though I use mostly wordcards for our reading lessons. I introduced word cards […]

We don’t usually go to Paradigm Mall but several weeks ago we did to meet up with friends. After out meet up, we thought of walking around for a while when we passed by Popular Bookstore and saw that they are giving a free art and craft session for kids but there was not even a single kid keen to participate. Why? What is happening to kids these days? Art and crafts don’t fancy them […]

Continuation from our first homeschool activity of beading/threading, we are going to proceed with the second activity a toddler can do at home today. It is never too early to expose a toddler to the world of colours. If you watch your toddler closely, you’ll discover that he/she will usually have a preference towards a particular colour. Always start with that colour to capture his interest.  My 16 month old Ayden loves playing with building […]

It’s the second day of school for the big brother Ethan and Ayden is left alone at home with me. Now that Ayden is 16 months old, I can start ‘homeschooling’ him just like what I’ve done with the elder brother years ago. By ‘homeschooling’ I mean keeping Ayden occupied by giving him lots of playtime to improve his fine motor skills. Parents these days have all the luxury to splurge on their kids when […]

It’s time to dig out your ang pow packets and make Chinese New Year decorations again because before you know it, Chinese New Year will appear right in front of you :) Though I’ve always used only angpow packets for my decorations, today’s decor requires one additional item though. We’ll need toilet paper rolls to make this lantern.  Ang pow lantern I used big toilet paper rolls instead of the normal small ones as this […]

When I published “How to make a Halloween Paper Pumpkin” 3 days before Halloween I got many mommies buzzing me requesting to post seasonal crafts EARLY so that they can make them on time for their parties.  Well, Christmas is in December and it is only the beginning of November now. I hope this entry is not too early though :D I’ve compiled 15 of our most popular Christmas crafts to share with our readers […]

I am very fortunate as I have a great Whatsapp group that consists of Ethan’s classmates’ moms. One of the mom initiated it and slowly but surely we help to add other mothers we got to know along the way. They have been very supportive throughout Ethan’s Primary One journey. We checked with each other if we were unsure regarding their homework or anything school related. Before the school holidays, I suggested that the kids […]

I’ve written a couple of blog posts on Samsung KidsTime. You may refer to them by clicking here and here. Today I’m going to recap some of the app’s main features and conclude my findings and observations. Before that, I also want to review some of the games and activities on Samsung KidsTime. There are several categories such as: I can SOLVE. The games under this category focus on Math. Ethan’s favourite is the one […]

When Ethan was 3 years old, we did a footprint Christmas tree art together. Christmas is only a month away and now we have Ayden to join us for art and craft. This time, we use Ayden’s cute little footprint instead. Ayden together with Ethan painting Ayden’s cute little foot.  Ayden can’t paint his foot lah. He can’t even feed himself so Ethan had to do it all by himself. It is so weird that […]

It has been about a week now that we’ve been using Samsung KidsTime app on our Tab 4. In case you are wondering what Samsung KidsTime is, it is a new application for android devices which helps in managing and improving your child’s development. Samsung KidsTime offers more than 80 applications and their contents are tailored specifically for children aged 3 to 7 years, allowing your children to learn new things using a tablet in […]

Remember I mentioned in my previous post that we went for a video shoot last Saturday? Well, I can finally reveal what that shoot was for :D Can you see that I was showing Ethan something on the tablet? We were actually exploring a new app by Samsung called Samsung KidsTime. Samsung KidsTime is a new application that helps in managing and improving child development. Ethan and I were introduced to Samsung KidsTime on the […]

I bring Ayden along with me all the time for my blogging events and most of my blogger friends are amazed at how well we communicate. Well, Ayden can’t really speak yet. All he can say now are just THERE, MILK and BREAD but what he can do is communicate with us via baby sign language. I read about baby sign language before Ayden was born. I learned that babies understand though they can’t really […]

The 2015 school holidays chart is out. In 2015, there will no longer be replacement classes on Saturdays. They will be held before the year end long holidays instead.

Not too long ago Ethan came home from school telling us that a classmate of his was sent to the Discipline Teacher for a misconduct in class. I asked him what did that classmate of his do and he told me that he shoved another classmate against the wall, strangled him, put his fingers in that boy’s mouth and tried to tear it open for taking his eraser. The attacker basically had an outburst; shouting and getting violent over […]

It’s the exam week this and next week. Today is an off day though to accommodate the UPSR exam. Since last weekend we have been struggling to get Ethan to do his revision. Remember in my post here I mentioned I had not a productive weekend? That was because we deliberately stayed home so Ethan can do his revision but guess what? He did not. He chose to play instead. My blood boiled telling him […]

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I was browsing the net and came across a paper plate shark craft by Cindy and her son Trevor from My Creative Life. It looks good so I made that our project last week. Besides the paper plate, we used different materials for other parts though.  Ayden can’t paint yet so I just let him sit on his high chair watching the elder brother at work.  Ayden got restless on the high chair so I […]